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Royal Australian Air Force slouch hat, blue


longwaterjim

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Hello. Currently collating my collection. I have a commonly found, in every disposal store across Australia, blue RAAF slouch hat. I emailed the RAAF museum and they had no info  on them, just it is the correct badge. My uncle and aunt were in the RAAF in the 70's and they have no idea. Plenty of images on the net and for sale but no photos of the servicemen and women wearing them and not an iota of information to be found. Maybe a cadet hat? Made by Montcastle dated 1995.

Can any one help?

 

20200420_145659.jpg

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Have an update from the  Deputy Air Force Historian, Office of Air Force History. Re blue slouch hat.

 “There is not a lot of information on RAAF uniforms, especially the different hats that were utilised over time.  A manuscript on RAAF uniforms, titled ‘Shades of Blue’, was submitted for a previous RAAF Heritage Awards competition, and it briefly mentions the fur-felt hat as follows:”

‘The khaki fur-felt hat continued to be worn as part of tropical dress with the traditional tri-colour flash for officers and warrant officers secured to the left side of the puggaree.  Officer Cadets wore a white tape at each end of the tri-colour flash.  Other ranks wore the airman’s cap badge at the front.

In the early 1990s, the colour of the hat was changed to blue/grey with a blue puggaree with the appropriate embroidered garrison cap badge attached to the puggaree.  The hat could be worn in lieu of service dress cap or garrison cap, subject to local commander’s instructions, with all orders of dress.  However, the colour of the puggaree proved unpopular, as did the identification via the cap badge, and a black puggaree with service dress cap badge was introduced.  For air rank officers, a please of light blue was inserted in the sixth fold of the puggaree.  NCO cadets wore a white background behind the airman’s badge.  In the case of apprentices, the background was light-blue.

The blue/grey fur-felt hat was not very popular and was replaced by the traditional khaki hat with the advent of the Air Force Blue uniform in 2000.’

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